Product Description: James McGavran’s new translation of Vladimir Maya­kovsky’s poetry is the first to fully capture the Futurist and Soviet agitprop artist’s voice. Because of his work as a propagandist for the Soviet regime, and because of his posthumous enshrinement by Stalin as “the best and most talented poet of our Soviet epoch,” Mayakovsky has most often been interpreted—and translated—within a political context...read more

Product Description: "Never have I wanted to be understood so much as in this poem. It is probably the most serious piece of work I have ever done." Written in 1924, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin crowned a long period of preparatory work on this theme. The poet was fortunate to see and hear Lenin on a number of occasions...read more

Product Description: Renowned Soviet writers, Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexei Tolstoy and Konstantin Fedin reveal their unique experiences in their career. They provide a sound knowledge in all forms of the art of writing, how to write prose, the short stories, novels, verses and more...read more

One of Russia's greatest poets, Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Futurist, early Bolshevik, and champion of the avant-garde. Despite his revolutionary youth, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet society, and three of his plays--all banned until after Stalin's death--reflect his changing assessments of the Revolution.Mayakovsky: Plays includes Mystery Bouffe, a mock medieval mystery written in 1918 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Revolution; The Bathhouse, a sharp attack on Soviet bureaucracy subtitled "a drama of circus and fireworks"; and The Bedbug, in which a worker with bourgeois pretensions is frozen and resurrected fifty years later, when the world has become a material paradise. The collection also includes Mayakovsky's more personal first play, Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy. (view table of contents)

Three examples of Russian drama during the twenty years after the Revolution explore the way of life in a communist society and the immorality of a tyrant

The bilingual text features highlights of the verse and dramatic writing of the acclaimed Soviet poet and playwright